Sci-Port, LSUS collaborate to refurbish pitching cage in honor baseball's perfect season

Sci-Port, LSUS collaborate to refurbish pitching cage in honor baseball's perfect season

SHREVEPORT - The number on the pitching radar at the Sci-Port Discovery Center may not have matched his age of 97 years, but one couldn't tell that by the smile on Sidney Kent's face.

Thinking he was attending a ceremony in honor of his daughter-in-law Melinda, the family surprised Kent with the refurbished pitching cage in his honor.

Kent threw out the first pitch of the refurbished cage Wednesday, which is dedicated to the 2025 LSU Shreveport baseball season, the first-ever perfect season in college baseball with a 59-0 record.

"This was totally unexpected," said Kent, who threw a strike, displaying the physical prowess of man who still golfs at least once a week. "My favorite saying is 'Don't complain, nobody cares,' and to live life with a positive mental attitude.

"Do that, and 97 years is a piece of cake."

The refurbished pitching cage features a new leaderboard, new turf, and new purple paint to commemorate the LSUS baseball team.

The project is a collaboration between Sci-Port, the Kent Family, LSUS and the LSUS Foundation.

Pictures of LSUS pitcher Isaac Rhode, who won NAIA Pitcher of the Year with a 16-0 record and 2.09 ERA, explain how proper wind up and follow through generates enough force to challenge opposing batters in the strike zone.

LSUS won its first national championship in any sport with the 2025 Pilots winning all 59 games it played, a winning streak that stretched to 65 games after this season's team were victors in their first six contests.

"This is a perfect example of what happens when entities come together to promote something that is very special and historic in a sense that it might not ever happen again," said Dianne Clark, executive director of Sci-Port. "Everyone involved felt like the LSUS baseball team's accomplishments were so spectacular and cannot go without special recognition."

Sidney Kent and his wife Hollisann are key supporters of LSUS and the Shreveport area, earning the term "stalwarts" of both communities and many others.

"When we were presented with this idea for collaboration, it was quite unique to us," said Laura Perdue, executive director of the LSUS Foundation. "Seeing how all of these communities rallied around this partnership, it was definitely a very smart thing to do.

"Sidney, at 97 years young, you are absolutely amazing sir. Many of our professors and students have had opportunities that they wouldn't have had otherwise without Sidney and Hollisann."

Four LSUS pitchers joined the entourage to commemorate the pitching cage and even toss a few pitches themselves.

Pitchers Jack Savitch, Rhys Francis, David Hankins, and Camden Stephens stood with the Kents to celebrate the occasion.

LSUS Chancellor Dr. Robert Smith lauded the baseball team's efforts and the positive exposure they brought to the university and to Shreveport as a city.

"It was just 11 months ago that this LSUS baseball team did something that nobody who knows anything about baseball would ever believe could be accomplished - a perfect season," Smith said. "The first college baseball team to ever do this, and they grabbed attention from news outlets around the country and the world.

"This team simply refused to lose."